Printing techniques can be broadly categorized into two groups: analog and digital. Common analog techniques are offset lithography, flexographic, gravure and screen printing. Inkjet and electrophotographic printing are the most prevalent digital technologies. Digital printing has an advantage over its analog counterpart in that printed output can be digitally altered, meaning that every printed page can be different. To change the printed output of an analog printer, a new set of imaging plates or stencils must be produced. Print quality is another vector of comparison between printing methods. Analog prints often have had excellent image quality, but digital printing is approaching the quality of analog printing with the advancement of printer hardware, printing inks and print media.
Inkjet printers are now common and affordable and allow one to obtain photographic quality. They are used in home printing, office printing and more recently, in commercial printing. The growth of inkjet printing is a result of a number of factors including reductions in cost of inkjet printers and improvements in print resolution and overall print quality. A continued demand in inkjet printing has resulted in a need to produce images of high quality, high permanence and high durability while maintaining a reasonable cost. Key advantages for inkjet technology in the commercial printing market are that printing width can be easily scaled and high speed printing has been achieved. For example, high speed inkjet web press printing is a printing technology typically used in industrial or commercial applications, e.g., to print books, magazines and brochures.
Print media used in printing have various affects on printed image attributes such as print quality, print durability and reliability, and print finish that are important attributes to end users regardless of printing technology used. The challenge is to produce print media that can maintain the printed image attributes in an optimum status.